Kay Arthur - Speak to My Heart, God: For Every Need, for Every Moment...

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.

Verses marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Minneapolis, Minnesota

SPEAK TO MY HEART, GOD

(Formerly titled His Imprint, My Expression)

Copyright 1993 by Kay Arthur

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon, 97402

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Arthur, Kay, 1933

[His imprint, my expression]

Speak to my heart, God / Kay Arthur.

p.cm.

Originally published: His imprint, my expression, 1993.

ISBN 0-7369-0773-4

1. Meditations. I. Title

BV4832.3 .A78 2002

242dc21 2001051702

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America.

02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 /BP-CF/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my firstborn
who was the hidden sorrow,
the seed of many if onlys,
but who now belongs
to the Lord and warms
my heart with his
care and love

The story of your salvation is in
these pagesMay it bring
hope to many who
wonder if their prodigal
will ever come home

Contents

W e know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who
are called according to His purpose. For those
whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would
be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom
He predestined, He also called; and these whom He
called, He also justified; and these whom He
justified, He also glorified.

ROMANS 8:28-30

Words of
FAITH

When You Wonder
If Life Has Any Purpose

Why was I born? What is the purpose of my existence? What am I worth to God?

H ave you ever asked yourself these questions? I have. In fact, I was considering all this just the other day as I sat in my big old chair (where I often pray), worshiping our Father by rehearsing aloud all that He is and has done. As I did, my mind went to the amazing truths of Ephesians 1. I thought of the magnificence and power of our Father in creating the world and in forming man from the dust of the earth. Then I thought of Ephesians 1:4:

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world!

Awesome, isnt it? To think that even before God created the heavens and the earth, He knew you and me, and He chose us!

Following this, my mind went to the fact that God has the course of history all planned out. Gods plan wasnt broadsided by Satan in the Garden when that evil deceiver tempted Adam and Eve to sin. Everything was already in place, for Jesus was already the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world. And so I began to thank our Father for making known to us the mystery of His will, and for the administration of the mysteryhidden in God for all these ages (Ephesians 1:9-10; 3:9-10).

God has a plan, and neither man nor the devil can thwart it.

Then my mind went on to Ephesians 2:10 where He tells us that before the foundation of the world our Father prepared the good works that we are to walk in! Talk about understanding our worth! Talk about knowing that our lives have a purpose!

Do you know this truth, my friend? And are you living in the light of it?

Do you realize how absolutely precious you are to God? Do you realize the significance of your life? It has a purpose. A specific purpose! As Ephesians 1:11 says, we live according to His purposeand His purpose is always the very best!

You are not an accident! You are not useless. You are not worthless. You are not unredeemable. Your worth and purpose in this life do not depend on who you are, on what you have done, or on what has been done to you. Your worth and purpose do not depend on where you have been, even if you have been to the very precipice of hell.

Your worth and purpose depend on God and God aloneHis will, His calling, His choosing, His love.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoptionthrough Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will (Ephesians 1:4-5).

God paid the dearest of prices to redeem you from your life of sin and independence from Him. You were dead in your trespasses and sins; you were condemned to death row for all eternity. And justly so because of your sin. Yet the Father gave His Son to die in your place by the most brutal of deaths. He did this when you were still walking your own way, not even realizing the price He was paying. And had you known it, you probably wouldnt even have cared! Thats how lost you were!

God loved you when you were His enemy. When you were a sinner, ungodly, and without hope, He loved you, pursued you, and wooed you. And He did not let go until you gave in and succumbed to His desire to be your Father, your God, your Lord, your Master, your Redeemer (read Romans 5).

Have you begun to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christs love for you, a love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:14-21)? Or are you walking around, lost in the maze of the enemys lies? Are you blocked at every turn by thoughts and feelings that lead you down dead-end paths? Are you confused, not knowing where to go, where to turn, or what to do because you are being led by your own emotions, your own feelings, your own suppositions? Or are you living by the evaluations, the opinions, the counsel of others rather than by the absolute truth of Gods inerrant Word?